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How Climate Change Could Make the Ground Collapse

By Anna North June 16, 2016 2:53 pmJune 16, 2016 2:53 pm

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A slump in western Alaska.Credit Ted Schuur

The world may need to get ready for more megaslumps.

A slump occurs when permafrost, or frozen ground, thaws and collapses. Most are between two and 20 meters deep, according to Julian Murton, a geologist who studies slumps. But some are much bigger — slumps more than 25 meters deep are called megaslumps. One of these, the Batagaika crater in Siberia, was about 52 meters (170 feet) deep when Prof. Murton’s team measured it in May. According to Motherboard, at least seven other craters, one of them more than half a mile in diameter, have appeared in the area.

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A slump in western Alaska.Credit Ted Schuur

When the ground collapses, said Ted Schuur, an ecologist who studies permafrost thawing, “everything that was living there usually gets wiped out.” Animals like caribou can get stuck in the muddy bottom of a slump and die, said Prof. Murton. Roads, airstrips, pipelines or other manmade structures on top of a slump can be damaged too, he added.

Slumps, which also occur in Canada and Alaska, are likely to become more common as the Arctic warms. And as permafrost thaws, Prof. Schuur explained, it releases greenhouse gases that can accelerate climate change. This raises the possibility of a feedback loop in which thawing leads to higher temperatures and still more thawing.

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A slump in western Alaska.Credit Ted Schuur

Researchers need to study permafrost to determine which areas are richest in ice, said Prof. Schuur, since these are the most vulnerable to slumping. And authorities in the far northern parts of the world should examine roads and other infrastructure to determine if they’re at risk of being damaged by slumps.

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A slump in western Alaska.Credit Ted Schuur

Protecting plant life may help prevent slumps — plants on top of permafrost can keep it cool, Prof. Murton explained. The Batagaika crater developed after trees on the site were cut down.

But the best way to stop more craters from forming is also the most politically difficult: reducing carbon emissions to keep the ground from warming any more than it already has.